Puppets, Play Money & Pastels

Today in Protons Art, the children started their creative thinking process by working with clay, crafting various shapes and configurations which provided for a nice discussion on a variety of imaginative topics. After much giggling, the children gathered around for a discussion on the primary color “Red”. Many of the children shared their insights on what they understood a “primary” color to be, and offered up some examples of red things they have at home. They designed and colored a flag of their own, and proudly waved them about until it was time for a group reading of “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow and Color Barn Book”, which proved to be a popular story.
The Quarks were challenged with the task of crafting their own unique hand puppets out of plain brown paper bags. As it turns out, plain brown paper is the perfect backdrop for such an endeavor and the children didn’t hesitate to design their puppet characters using different types of pasta, beads, feathers, fill, pipe cleaners, and buttons. Their puppets will be used in next week’s scheduled drama performance. During Unit Studies, the Quarks read “Me! Draw Myself?”, a book by the legendary Dr. Seuss and were inspired to think about ways in which they might portray themselves in various circumstances.

During Math Games, the Neutrons worked in pairs during an economics activity. They were provided a budget of play money, along with a set of colored blocks to use as “raw material” to sell. The objective of the game was to sell all of your original blocks (raw material) and then purchase new raw material from others to develop the most colorful set. In the end, each pair told stories of their end product. Some built elaborate buildings, some made furniture, and some were left with more money than they started off.
The Electrons worked with oil pastels and watercolors to make a resist. Using their own outdoor memories as the subject matter, the children rendered some truly breathtaking works of art all the while discussing their technique and subject matter.